


Terrible Twos

by jacquelee



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Community: gameofcards, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 01:45:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3231575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacquelee/pseuds/jacquelee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>B'Elanna gets some help in connecting with her daughter from an unexpected source.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terrible Twos

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Terrible Twos" at [Game of Cards](http://gameofcards.livejournal.com)

B’Elanna dreaded going back to the house. She chastised herself for it, knowing that she shouldn’t be dreading spending time with her own daughter. She shouldn’t be afraid of a tiny child. But she was. She was constantly afraid that Miral would turn out like herself, that her Klingon side would win out, that she would be ostracized. 

So she tried to stop her from having tantrums, she tried to set strict rules to keep her from screaming and wanting all the things, but it just didn’t work. At two and a half years old, her daughter was already as stubborn and as ready to fight everyone as her own mother. And now that Tom had left everything had become even harder. Not that she was sad about that, the only thing they had been doing lately was fighting, but still…

She was very thankful for Seven and Admiral Janeway’s offer of leaving Miral with them and their daughter for the afternoon. She wished it could be a little longer though, this time alone had been really good for her, and as much as it pained her to admit it, probably for Miral too. 

But she couldn’t just leave her problems with someone else, no, she had to deal with this herself. She was Miral’s mother, she was the one to sit through her tantrums. After all, this was only the terrible twos, it would get better. At least that was what she needed to tell herself. 

When she got there, Seven opened the door and she saw Alex and Miral playing in the living room. Miral didn’t even give any sign of recognizing that her mother had arrived, she just continued playing, so after exchanging some pleasantries with Seven, B’Elanna called her to go home, already mentally preparing for the shitstorm that would inevitably follow. 

And obviously it did. The first few times Miral pointedly continued to ignore her, and then only when Seven called on her, she reacted, with an already pretty loud “Wanna stay and play!” that was accompanied by a frown and balled up little fists. 

B’Elanna just did what she always did, she ignored it, stepping up to Miral and telling her that they had to go now, that play time was over. She knew she probably would end up having to carry Miral all the way home, and she really wasn’t looking forward to that. Also, having her daughter yell at her in front of Seven – thankfully Admiral Janeway was not here right now, but still – was not an experience she had always wanted to have. 

When she scooped up a screaming and flailing Miral in her arms she tried to keep an apologetic smile on her face, making some jokes about the terrible twos. Except now Miral actually pulled out the worst weapon she had in her arsenal, screaming “I hate you, I hate you!” 

Momentarily silenced, B’Elanna didn’t know what to do next, when Seven jumped in, asking in her usual tone without any sign of being phased by the scene before her if she could talk with Miral for a minute. B’Elanna agreed and put a still screaming, but less so, Miral into Sevens arms, who put the now silent child down, crouched to her level and asked if she would be okay coming with her to talk. 

Miral sniffeled and nodded and the two of them walked into the other room, leaving B’Elanna alone with Alex, feeling helpless and a bit dumbfounded. 

“Maybe she can talk some sense into her.” 

She said it more to herself, quietly, but Alex heard it. 

“Who?” 

“What?” 

B’Elanna wasn’t sure what to make of this question or for that matter the child herself, who was still sitting on the same spot she had been sitting on when B’Elanna came in. 

“Who is talking sense into whom?” 

“Miral, obviously. I mean, Seven is talking some sense into Miral.” 

“Why would she?” 

“What?”

“Why would Mom talk sense into Miral when she made the most sense already?” 

B’Elanna started to not be amused. 

“How does throwing a tantrum and telling your own mother you hate her make sense?” 

“You hurt her. You took her right to choose away. She had every right to be upset. You hurt her a lot, don’t you?” 

B’Elanna let out a little laugh, she couldn’t really believe what she was hearing. 

“I’m not hurting her. I’m her mother! She needs to learn to listen to me.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I’m her mother and she can’t just go around throwing tantrums at every single little thing. The world doesn’t work that way. They already hate her because she is part Klingon. If she continues like that, everyone will leave her, everyone will hurt her.” 

B’Elanna didn’t plan on ranting about this to a little child, but she felt like it had been bottled up inside her for so long, she needed to talk to someone about it. She needed to make people understand. 

“So, it’s better that you hurt her first? That is highly illogical.” 

“What?” 

For the second time, B’Elanna found herself stunned. She had been repeating these lines in her head for such a long time, being told that she was illogical was quite a shock. Before Alex could say anything else, she tried to explain herself further, though she didn’t really know if she did this for Alex or for herself. 

“I am not hurting her by making rules. She needs to learn to follow rules. She can’t just do what she wants to do. And she can’t just scream at everyone because she doesn’t like rules. That’s what it is, that’s why it’s called the terrible twos. It’s just a phase.” 

“So, the moment she tries to assert her individuality and demand explanation for things she can and cannot do, you need to stomp that assertion out and replace it with blind obedience? That sounds a lot like hurting her to me.” 

“That’s not what it is. I’m not… I don’t want blind obedience. She’s two! She doesn’t understand things!” 

“Have you tried to explain them to her? Because right now, you didn’t.” 

“I don’t have to explain anything. It’s just… I mean…” 

B’Elanna was lost for words. A part of her wanted to be angry but looking at this child, who wasn’t much older than her own daughter, she couldn’t. So instead, she actually thought about what she had said. Was she actually demanding blind obedience? Was she hurting her daughter? Was she… Oh gods, was she turning into her mother? How did that happen? 

“But what do I do? How do I explain things to her when she doesn’t even listen?” 

“It might be helpful if you treat her like an individual and not like a terrible two. You know, because that is what she is. An individual.” 

Lost for words again, B’Elanna just stared at the child for a moment. And then she arrived at a conclusion. 

“You think your mother would be okay if we stay for a little while and I talk to her a bit?” 

At that, the first smile since she had come in appeared on Alex’s face. 

“I think that would be a great idea.” 

Quite apt, the door to the other room opened in that moment and Seven and Miral came back into the room. Not willing to take any chances, B’Elanna spoke first. 

“Look, I think it’s okay if we stayed for a while, if Seven is okay with it, so that you can play with Alex and I can talk to Seven a bit. Would that be okay?” 

She directed the question at both Seven and Miral, for the first time actually seeing her child as someone, as a person, instead of a volcano about to explode in rage. 

Miral looked up to Seven questioningly, who nodded, which prompted Miral to run into B’Elanna’s arms and hug her tightly, whispering “I don’t hate you. I love you.” 

B’Elanna’s heart went out to her daughter in this moment. All the stress she had felt in the last few weeks somehow seemed to be relieved a little bit. Maybe the terrible twos weren’t that terrible after all. Maybe she was the problem. 

“I love you too, sweetie.”


End file.
